D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook preview: "New Spells"

[Micah Sweet]

It is a game, it is what should matter.

So your own happiness is immaterial?

 

[Micah Sweet]

For a game I'm DMing? Of course. Making the players happy is what makes me happy. How can I wring any enjoyment from the game if my players didn't enjoy it?

The DM deserves to get what they want just as much as the players do. Caring only about the player's happiness is not a requirement for being a good DM. This sort of thinking leads to the idea that the only good DM is one who bends to the player's desires at every turn, and is happy to do it. If that's what you enjoy, fine, but you don't have to do that to be a good DM.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

If nothing else has changed, is there reason to assume they will be treating spellcasting NPCs differently?

That's certainly a level of optimism rarely seen.

NPCs with Magic now tend to only have support magic or magic that won’t affect their damage output much. The actual main things they do are written out in the stat block.

 

[TwoSix]

The DM deserves to get what they want just as much as the players do. Caring only about the player's happiness is not a requirement for being a good DM. This sort of thinking leads to the idea that the only good DM is one who bends to the player's desires at every turn, and is happy to do it. If that's what you enjoy, fine, but you don't have to do that to be a good DM.

I never said otherwise. I simply said my happiness as a DM is predicated on my players enjoying themselves. If my players don't like it, the fact that I'm playing my favorite system in my favorite setting is immaterial.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I never said otherwise. I simply said my happiness as a DM is predicated on my players enjoying themselves. If my players don't like it, the fact that I'm playing my favorite system in my favorite setting is immaterial.

Ok, fair enough. Is it possible for your players to be happy with a game you're running, but you're not? If so, would you run the game anyway?

 

[TwoSix]

Ok, fair enough. Is it possible for your players to be happy with a game you're running, but you're not? If so, would you run the game anyway?

The only thing that generally makes me unhappy to run is boredom. My games rarely go more than 20 sessions precisely to try and avoid that.

 

[ECMO3]

The DM has enough on their plate without having to plan every encounter around a single overtuned spell (see also silvery barbs). "Git Gud" is insulting advice in a video game, it's equally insulting here.

Planning every encounter is the easy button for it. You can completely eliminate Shield's effectiveness very easily if you plan to. That takes no time at all and is trivial if you actually plan for it.

Dealing with it when you did not plan it or when you are running a published adventure "as written" takes a lot more creativity. But it is hardly the only, or even the worst "game breaking" things players do. It is simply the most common.

 

[ECMO3]

Sure, admittedly the math may hold up. I'm still unconvinced paladin fans are going to be cool with what happened to smite.

Agree completely. I am cool with it, but I don't play a lot of Paladins and contrary to many I use my spell slots mostly for spells when I do. I think I am a rarity though.

 

[ECMO3]

The tension with Bladesinger is that they are easily the best gish subclass, but Wizarding is so much more useful than melee that even the best gish subclass is better off Wizarding if they can.

A Bladesinger playing as a traditional controller/caster is a more powerful character than a Bladesinger playing as a dedicated melee combatant. But a Bladesinger with average or better rolls, optimized and playing as a dedicated melee combatant is better at tanking melee and more survivable in this role than an optimized Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian or any other class with the same ability scores at most levels.

When I am playing a Bladesinger the PC is usually almost entirely focused on melee tanking. I am using 3rd-7th level slots primarily for False Life, contingency-5th level False Life and occasionally Song of Defense. Low level slots for Blur, PEG, Shield, Absorb Elements and occasionally Silvery Barbs if a crit sneaks in. In that role a Bladesinger is the premier single-class melee character at most levels over 5th.

If I am playing a more traditional spell caster then I am not usually playing a Bladesinger. It is not that a Bladesinger is bad as a traditional Wizard, they are still one of the most powerful characters at most levels. But an Enchantment, Scribes, War or Divination is better at this than a bladesinger at almost every level.

That is not to say there are not ways to completely nerf a Bladesinger in melee. They are reliant on magic spells, so things like Dispel Magic and Counterspell are very effective. Dispel Magic can eliminate their concentration spell, their temp hit points, their contingency and any other spell they have affecting them in one action.

 

[ECMO3]

So your own happiness is immaterial?

I am a player (even the DM is a player).